Pelosi decides to run again for House leader post

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., accompanied by women House Democrats, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, where she announced that she wants to remain as the top Democrat in the House of Representatives. From left are, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., Rep.-elect Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, Pelosi, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Rep.-elect Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Calif. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., says she will ask her Democratic colleagues to keep her on as their leader in the House of Representatives. There's been a lot of speculation that Pelosi might step down after failing to win back the House.

During the campaign, Pelosi was so positive about taking back the House of Representatives. That didn't happen and it's not likely to happen in the next congressional election two years from now. So the question reporters had been asking is would she step down after a quarter century in Congress?

Flanked by all the women elected to the House, Pelosi announced she would like to stay on as the House minority leader.

"We have work to do and I have made a decision to submit my name to my colleagues to once again serve as the House Democratic leader," she said.

Pelosi failed in her drive to take back the House and return as speaker, but she says that's not going to count against her.

"My colleagues made it very clear in fact I think they must have coordinated with each other because their message was clear -- don't even think about leaving," she said.

On election night as it became clear that Democrats wouldn't take back the House, ABC7 News asked the spokesmperson for the Democratic National Committee if Pelosi had failed.

"She's the best fundraiser in the history of American politics in the House," Brad Woodhouse said.

There wasn't a hint that she should be replaced and that fundraising ability is a big part of the reason. In the past 22 months, Pelosi has attended 650 events, raising $72 million for Democratic members of Congress.

ABC7 News political analyst Bruce Cain says Democrats could wind up with eight more seats.

"That's better than people thought going in," he said. "I think the expectation was that there was never a chance really to get control of the House again because of the redistricting that took place in Republican states."

Pelosi said Wednesday she wants a seat at the table when the president calls. Also Wednesday, the president told reporters he will be calling congressional leaders together at the end of the week to pass a tax cut extinction for the middle class.

"Right now what I want to make sure of is that taxes on the middle class families won't go up and we could do that by next week," President Obama said.

Congressional Republicans are pushing back, saying they don't want to eliminate the Bush-era tax cuts for anybody, including those making more than $250,000 a year.

"We don't understand why raising tax rates is the solution if you want to see people get back to work," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said.

The last time the Bush-era tax breaks came up for a vote the president caved and extended them for everyone. This time, he's saying he'll hold the line and that could be one more reason Democrats want Pelosi to stay on as minority leader -- along with money she adds backbone to the liberal side of the table.